Interviews, Recipes, Pro-Tips, and more for the Modern Stoner Woman.

Ask a Cannababe: Flower or Concentrate?

Welcome to our “Ask a Cannababe” column, featuring expert women sharing their experiences on a variety of cannabis topics. Today we talk with Liv from New York about all things Flower vs. Concentrates. All opinions are her own.

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So picture this – it’s my first time in Amsterdam and of course I spend about 98% of my time trying out all the different coffee shops. My last day there I looked up a coffee shop nearby and dragged my friend on the adventure. The picture will forever be in my brain of three young beautiful women with long hair, wearing business clothes, all sitting on a bench outside the shop rolling joints. It was honestly the most elegant action I’ve ever seen with weed.

Right at that exact moment, I found out that women could be professional, get shit done, and still enjoy some dank cannabis. This revelation led me on a journey to exploring more about cannabis and my love for being a cannabis entrepreneur.

On this journey, I’ve experimented with a bunch of different ways to find the perfect high. There’s a ton of ways you can ingest weed from orally (edibles and tinctures), topical, or straight up inhaling it. However, in this article, we’ll explore the differences between smoking flower and concentrates.

Is Cannabis Flower The Best Way to Get High?

You’ve got your Indicas, Sativas, Hybrids, and Ruderalis – All have different effects on the way you get high.

When I first started smoking in college, I didn’t know that there were different strains for different things. Not until my best friend said, “I only smoke Sativa because I’m already depressed so why would I need something to lock me in the couch further?”

But depending on the strains, there is a multitude of ways that pot can get you lifted. For more help on strains, check out this article.

Ways to Smoke Your Cannabis

Some of the many ways you can smoke flower & concentrate. Image via MaryJaneWarrior

How to Smoke Cannabis Flower

Water Pipes

They cut down the harshness of the hit while still giving a powerful cloud of smoke. It also filters out some of the bad crap and they can come with a bunch of different fancy percolators.

Hand Pipes

Super easy to use, portable and they come in an array of colors, shapes, and materials. They also don’t take a bunch of weed so if it’s just you toking, it saves a lot of time and weed.

Household objects

Another great thing about flower is that it can literally be smoked out of the most random objects from an apple to a can of soda. And if you’re an unprepared but creative stoner, there are endless possibilities.

Classic Joint or Blunt

Let’s face it, that act of sitting and smoking a joint not only feels great, but it’s far less clumsy and a million times cooler looking than a vape. If I’m sitting on top of a mountain after hiking or laying on a beach in the Caribbean, I going to want a joint – no exceptions. The only difficult part is learning how to master the perfect way to roll one. Or you can be like me and cheat with a joint roller. However, if you’re being thrifty with your weed, a joint a day might make your wallet a bit lighter and your trips to the dispensary more often.

How to Smoke Cannabis Concentrates

Just like the different types of flower, there are also a bunch of different types of concentrates from shatter, crumble, budder, oil or wax. If you’re trying to be a little bit more health conscious, try vaporizing this version of pot. The way it works is that the rigs or pens extract the cannabinoids and terpenes at a high heat without the harmful carcinogens that are consumed with flower when you heat it up. It tastes like essential oils (which btw put some non-toxic essential oils in your bongs and see how you like it) and for the most part, has little to no smell so you can toke up in the office kitchen as long as no one’s around (Or is that just me?).

Vapes

The cool thing about vapes is that now they make some for just concentrates and some that also vaporize flower! They’re also so discrete. If you pick up an oil cartridge all you have to do is screw it onto your pen and vape away. If it’s good oil you should get pretty zooted within 5-7 hits. So vaping is actually a million times cooler than the freekin fruity cloud bullshit people are ingesting to stop smoking cigarettes. *NEWS FLASH* THE GOO IN THERE IS ALSO HARMFUL and not properly regulated so be careful and just smoke some good weed, please.

Pro-tip: if you smoke your pen in addition to hitting some flower, they both compliment each other very well & can get you even more elevated.

Dab Pens

If you’re looking to have a great time on a night out, my go-to is always some dabs. #710

If you’re on the go at a music festival, I recommend something like the kandypen. Just load your pen with some wax concentrate and you can literally do dabs all throughout Chance the Rappers glorious set at Bonnaroo.

However ladies, I warn you, no matter how safe you think your pen is between your boobs – DO NOT – leave it in there just to find that it has fallen out of your crop top on the way to Marshmello (Like my high ass did). Get a fanny pack and save yourself some grief (and lost dabs).

Rigs

If you’ve got time at the pregame to do a couple dabs with a rig, I guarantee you’ll be ready to deal with your drunk friends who can’t hold their liquor and wake up with no hangover in the morning. But a warning, drinking & dabs can get you hella crossfaded and feeling like Mr. Krabs with the spins (trust me I’ve tested the theory.)

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Pretty much the only real negatives to both flower and concentrates are obvious – smoke in your lungs is bad for you. A lot of studies are being done to prove that marijuana smoke is not as damaging as cigarettes. However, they both do contain black tar so long-term stoners should probably consider edibles and tinctures. Also, if you use butane lighters/torches to light that good good, you’re getting butane in your body… So do your best to use hemp wick if you smoke often.

In conclusion, Both flower and concentrates are so versatile and can be smoked in a variety of different ways. However, the BEST way to smoke is, of course, to bring them together and smoking them in harmony. My favorite of all time is a moonrock blunt. It’s simply your flower, dipped in hash oil and rolled up in kief to create the ultimate high.

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What do you think? Do you use flower or concentrates on the road to getting that perfect high? Comment below! 🍃